Michael Carayannis, Sydney

Bernard Tomic's mental resolve will again come under fire after the world No.52 put in a below-par performance to forfeit his Sydney International title 6-3, 6-1 to Juan Martin del Potro in less than a hour.

Tomic did little to endear himself to a parochial home crowd with an uninspiring effort, barley causing a whimper against the world No.5 who cruised to victory in just 53 minutes.

It was a limp defence of Tomic's only career title and well short of the performance he produced to beat world No.20 Kevin Anderson last year.

Tomic had impressed in the opening rounds of the tournament with good wins against the likes of Sergiy Stakhovsky, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Blaz Kavcic to move into the final but his effort on Saturday night was anything but impressive.

Related Content

After holding his opening three service games, Tomic managed to win one more game, the first time he served in the second set. He was broken at 3-3 in the opening set and never recovered. Now he faces a stiffer test - a meeting with world No.1 Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open this week.

Tomic said he would leave for Melbourne on Sunday.

Advertisement

''It's going to be an amazing match,'' Tomic said. ''It's a tough ask. I wanted to win this championship but Juan played too good. Now my focus is on playing Rafa … I'm playing a legend. Unfortunately I have to play him in the first round. I'm going to bring it to him. The odds aren't in my favour. I'm happy with the way I competed but I got killed.''

Del Potro - who became the first top-ranked seed since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005 to win the title - needed just one of his two set points to again break Tomic's serve to claim the opening set. The second set mirrored the opener, with Tomic unable to compose himself when he again gave up his serve early in the set. Del Potro said he was impressed with his own performance.

''Finals are never easy but I was surprised by my level,'' del Potro said. ''I thought I played great. I made a lot of winners. Every long-running rally we played I won all of them.

''I think he was a little frustrated after seeing me very focused on the match and hitting the ball so well. He is still young in some moments of the match. He has everything to win titles and will reach finals very soon.''

The former US Open champion broke with the score at 2-1, with the fourth game of the second set going to deuce before the Argentinian held his serve before breaking Tomic to love. With eight aces, the taller del Potro looked sharp in perfect conditions as the likes of swimmer Ian Thorpe, rugby league player Jamie Soward and Ken Rosewall watched on at Sydney's Olympic Park.

The pair could also meet again in Melbourne after being grouped on the same side of the draw.